Out of the Ashes Ch. 06

"We... of course we are happy for you two. You two make a great... couple," Agatha tried to somewhat empathize with them, but it was clear as day that she was confused how their relationship would even work on an anatomical level.

"Yeah. I mean... just how... is this ... you know ...?" Ricky, red like a tomato out of embarrassment, eventually addressed to obvious question although he wasn't able to fully put it into words.

"They already did," Manuel interrupted and looked sternly at Alexia. "I heard you two when I came back. It was really impossible to ignore ... and I could have sworn I heard something break," he said.

Margaret and Alexia blushed immensely. The blonde's hand's grip tightened around Alexia's and she mustered the courage to respond.

"We... kinda... broke the bed," she admitted.

Even Manuel who usually looked completely composed blushed noticeably while the others turned to an almost comical shade of red.

"Oh my..." Agatha chuckled under her breath. Ricky just stared wide eyed at Margaret; his mouth opened in awe.

His twin brother on the other hand was clenching his fists and looked like he would pop a blood vessel soon.

"Of course, we gotta repair the damage. I should be able to fix it with some nails and lime... I think," Alexia said to Manuel who looked slightly confused for a moment before he shook his head.

"Sure..." the old man huffed and shifted his attention back to Margaret.

She smiled at him and hoped for a reaction but his look was still one of disappointment and confusion. Margaret assumed that he thought she was simply a huge slut, not knowing she wasn't just a perverted human.

"Well... guess we know that now. Uhm... thank you for telling us," Agatha again tried to be the positive force on the table but didn't succeed in changing the mood.

After an awkward and for Margaret agonizingly long pause, she sighed and raised her voice again.

"That's... not all I need to tell you though. The thing is... I... am no..." the incognito heir was on the verge of tearing up and only Alexia's soft grip around her hand stopped her from doing so.

"I am no human. I am a futa, just like Lexi," Margaret said in a pleading voice.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier... I wanted to... but... I didn't think you'd..."

The princess' explanation turned almost into a slur as she panicked and got faster and hastier with every new word.

"I didn't want you to think less of me. You... were all so great to me ... and I didn't want to lose that," she muttered.

"But why telling it now?" Agatha asked. "I mean ... you don't look like a futa to me"

"Because ... I am starting to grow."

This was too much to take in for the humans at the table. Unlike a few moments prior there was no clear indication on how they were feeling though.

All eyes were on Margaret and she felt somehow deeply ashamed by simply admitting her true nature. A part of her even wanted to go all the way and reveal her origin to get it all over with, but the part of her just wanting this moment to end was winning out.

She lowered her gaze and looked at the desk not wanting to enrage anyone in any way.

"I am sorry," she muttered.

"No need to be sorry. That's who you are. Nothing wrong with that. Now it at least makes sense how you two got together," Agatha calmly said, but it even for someone so openminded as her it was a long stretch to just accept this surprising revelation. "We won't think less of you for it, am I right boys?"

She looked over at the other side of the desk and her gaze wandered between Manuel and the two twins to eventually settle on Ricky until he responded.

"Sure. Uhm... it's just unexpected. But... you are the same person after all. Uhm... any idea how much... you will, uhm grow?" the more timid twin asked.

"Not a clue. I didn't even think... it would happen anymore. But if I take my mothers into account... I guess... quite a lot," Margaret anxiously responded.

"What? Even as tall as Lexi?"

"Hopefully even bigger," Alexia responded and smiled at Margaret to take some of her doubts from her.

This caused the barrel to overflow for Remy. By the angry grunt they'd assume it was more because of Alexia speaking than the fact that Margaret might end up being even taller, but they couldn't tell for sure. He knocked his chair over while hastily getting up and left without saying a word.

"Remy!" Agatha shouted but he rushed outside the inn without even looking back at them.

The two hermaphrodites didn't expect such an outburst of sheer rage, but there was probably more to that than just Margaret being a futa.

"I gotta go talk to him" Agatha suggested.

"No, you better let him be. He's ... not in the best condition right now," the other blonde twin stated and looked over to Margaret. "He was the one inviting you to the festival, right Maggie?"

The blonde princess just nodded softly, still unable to meet anyone's gaze.

"You know what this means? He wanted to become your boyfriend. This is partially one of the main reasons for the festival, to ask someone close out or... to meet new people like I did. Why do you think I ... you know, got laid last night?" Ricky explained.

This got Margaret's attention and she looked puzzled at the boy on the opposite end of the table.

"I didn't know that! He... never told me about it," Margaret said.

"That doesn't mean he didn't hope you'd be willing to..." Ricky coughed and left things a bit awkward for now until he concluded. "He likes you a lot Maggie".

"I know ..."

The two hermaphrodites were starting to feel a bit bad, not only for seemingly mocking him after his advances but coming out as a couple after his rejection. Unnoticed by everyone though and even amidst this now lively conversation there was one person completely silent. Manuel.

"You didn't say anything. Please... tell her she doesn't have anything to worry about you old chump," Agatha mused and hoped to encourage the conflicted looking innkeeper.

He swiftly looked over all the familiar faces and paused a few seconds while looking at the anxious and now revealed futa and got up. He didn't say a word either, nor did he show any signs of rage or disappointment, he just walked away.

Everyone was silenced by Manuel's sudden exit and nobody dared to even talk about it until Margaret bursted out in tears. Alexia had to calm her devastated lover down and didn't succeed in it for a while, even after Agatha and Ricky were trying their best to help. They brought her back to her room and Alexia spent the rest of the day to encourage Margaret even late into the night.

The inn was opened the next day, which meant that the blonde princess had to face Manuel and Remy again. She kept her head low and only spoke when she was asked and tried to seem smaller than she actually was. The grumpy innkeeper was avoiding her gaze and Remy wasn't even moving outside the kitchen during the whole workday. Seemingly she wasn't even worth to be addressed by them.

"So, that's how Lexi felt?" she mentally lamented but was working like she was supposed to, or at least tried to. The workshift felt like nothing more than a chore, an increasingly annoying but somehow even welcome nuisance that delayed the inevitable discussion she would have with Manuel in particular.

To top things off she felt the constant urge of her body to grow bigger, with the unpleasant soreness being omnipresent during the whole day although it subsided significantly after yesterday's rutting.

Even the little things that usually brought her joy felt shallow. The banter and smalltalk with regulars and new faces alike felt forced and stale... pointless even. Without Manuel or the twins to talk to though she found enough time to collect her thoughts and attempted to put herself into their perspective.

Remy's reaction was obvious and easy to understand. He felt rejected, envious and taunted by how Alexia was showing their affection ... but Manuel. She got no idea what he was thinking and why after all this time she spent here was seemingly dropping her for just being different. Even considering his past this felt harsh, when he could somewhat accept Alexia why not her? They came along great in her opinion and she thought she definitely breached his metaphoric shell, but now he was even more distant than the first time they met.

Just Alexia trying to cheer her up was the only thing she could look forward to, but she was mostly assigned for work outside the tavern. Margaret once more felt utterly alone, especially when she thought she was exclusively surrounded by friends.

Even the customers were picking up that something was wrong. Not only was Margaret behaving differently, but her slight height increase didn't go unnoticed.

She was still able to divert the attention by stating that she wore higher heels, but that wouldn't work in the days maybe weeks to come. Despite looking forward to hit her growth spurts for years she couldn't help herself but dread how much she might end up growing.

The shift went on and on and while the work day was slowly coming to an end, with closing time approaching, that meant she was supposed to do her daily piano play.

Margaret wasn't nearly as enthusiastic and focused as usual, which was noticeable for everyone, even the ones without an ounce of musical understanding. Easy errors that usually never occurred to Margaret were riddled throughout her performance. And some customers slowly started to whisper to one another. Some even sounded worried, some slightly annoyed. The blonde futa was mindlessly going through the sheet of notes she wrote a few days ago and didn't bother to react to anything surrounding her. Until she noticed a familiar cough and footsteps next to her.

"You are dragging," Manuel calmly said and stopped next to Margaret.

"Yes... I might be," she whimpered and picked up some pace.

The elderly human grabbed a nearby barstool and sat down next to the still uninspired but still playing royalty. Margaret was peaking over to him amidst her increasingly faulty play, which only discouraged her further.

"You can do better than that, Maggie," he said with a soft voice and keenly observed the blonde's next few strokes.

Margaret took a deep breath and tried to blend him out and just focused on today's tune. She managed to find the right pace again and noticeably improved by the second until she was back to her usual and masterly level. From the furthest corner of her vision she noticed him swaying softly to the rhythm of her play and seemingly enjoyed the melancholic melody.

Only a few guests decided to visit the tavern after probably a weekend of heavy drinking and dancing but were also slightly picking up the mood again.

"Good. Much better," he said and made Margaret almost break a smile for a moment.

She kept on and for once was just satisfied to please him by playing, but feared the moment she would stop. She kept repeating verses to an almost annoying degree and realised he was just waiting for her to finish. Eventually her tune came to an end and accompanied by the unusually unecstatic claps of just the most admiring regulars. It was a somewhat appropriate: disappointing applause for an overall disappointing performance.

The now revealed hermaphrodite rested her now subtly shaking hands on her lap and didn't want to initiate the probably highly unpleasant conversation, hoping if she wouldn't say a word he might leave.

Unnoticed by either of the two Alexia at the other end of the room, looming in the darkest corner of the inn, just behind the entrance, was watching her troubled lover struggle by just having him around. But Manuel looked equally uncomfortable, although not aggressive or enraged in the slightest.

"Listen, Maggie... I have to, " Manuel started and Margaret was lifting her head and looked him in his characteristically lifeless eyes.

For once she saw some sort of passion radiating from them, which she only witnessed at very rare occasions during her stay here. She paused him just with her gaze, it was one of sadness and fear. Even with her now being a few inches taller than him she looked smaller, punier, more miserable, in comparison.

He struggled to find the right words and Margaret eventually had to break the eery silence.

"You were about to tell me, that you despise me now. That you can't look past what I am. That you feel betrayed by me not telling you earlier. That you want us to leave."

The blonde looked down again and tried to avoid him seeing the tears dwelling up in her eyes.

"You just have to ask. If you want us gone, we will leave," she muttered and anxiously rubbed her hands for some sort of comfort.

"Do you want to leave?" the man of few words asked.

The blonde princess gasped and shook her head until tears dropped onto her working outfit.

"No... I don't want to," she sobbed almost inaudibly.

"Then stay," he paused for just a moment. "Please," Manuel gasped; equally as wary and anxious as the taller blonde next to him.

Margaret hastily looked into his eyes and couldn't believe her ears, but seeing his uncharacteristically emotional expression convinced her that she heard correctly.

The distressed heir was stunned and only when he smiled at her she felt like she could even dare to speak up again.

"But... yesterday?" she muttered but with a steadier voice than before.

"Sorry Margaret. I... just ... didn't expect that," he sighed and it was almost heartwarming to see that the usually direct and stoic innkeeper was struggling to word how he was feeling.

"I know many here got issues, with your kind. Me included... me especially," he looked at her and saw the discomfort in her subtle reaction. "But I got no problem with you... nor Alexia. You are good people. You deserve to be here. And if you can forgive me ... I would be delighted if you'd stay ... with us."

Alexia was observing the scene, but even without hearing a single word she could tell what words were exchanged. After the elderly human finished his heartfelt apology, he waited for Margaret to respond.

This time literally no words were required to get her answer. The now ecstatic waitress hastily hugged him as close and tightly as she possibly could while resting her head on his shoulders. The usually very cautious and stern man was surprised but obviously enjoyed Margaret's spontaneous reaction. He rested a hand on her shoulder and accompanied by the quite clueless but playful claps of the crowd fully accepted her into their family which brought a smile to Alexia's face.